Practice Notes (left hand update)

Played for 3 hours. All Suzuki. All Ave Marias. 6 etudes. 4th finger. Further explored Suzuki 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, worked a little on the little Mozart minuet. Did not work on 3rd position. I decided on a preleminary mean for (t) in Maria's Passions. T=92. The midi I have of Bach's version, I think is a little too fast anyway--I've played the piano part my entire life it seems, and I've heard the piece played in several different contexts, and it has never been as fast as the midi. I'm sure I like the Bach/Gounod version best, though Schubert's is more well known. The Gounod version has really hot crescendos, broader dynamics which makes the thing deeper, and as a combination of these it becomes overall more interesting as a result. I played all three probably 10 times yesterday, and they are coming along nicely, but I'm shooting for much better than nicely: interpretive, expressive, and instinctive.


I'm liking the more difficult etudes, because I can see where it will take my bowing, and the ones with the 8-note slurs stand fun on their own. I'm not sure how long I'm suppose to be working on each--there are purportedly 60 etudes, but each one has potentially 15 variations.

The 4th finger exercise seems to be working.

My left hand is becoming stronger, though I haven't been manually exercising it as much this past week. Giving it a rest from the squeeze balls is a good thing in my mind, to allow it to heal and strengthen. I want to get back on the exercises though, for the 115% I'm shooting for long run.